1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming controller, a method therefor, a program, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a controller for a multifunctional image processing apparatus (multifunction machine) has been proposed and has a configuration in which raster images after being scanned or rendered are converted into rectangular images, which are then stored, so that the rectangular images can be transferred to rectangle-raster converting means and can be output to a printer as needed.
FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing one example of a rectangular-image transfer sequence of a controller for a conventional multifunctional image processing apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 13, in the conventional approach, a page is divided into a plurality of rectangular images (tiles), and a set of an X-coordinate number and a Y-coordinate number is attached to each rectangular image to serve as a tile number.
In FIG. 13, reference numeral 101 indicates a page, and 102 indicates a first tile, which has tile number (0, 0), in the page 101. Also, a second tile 103 has tile number (1, 0) and the last tile 105 in the first line has tile number (90, 0). Further, the first tile 104 in the second line has tile number (0, 1).
In the conventional system, these tiles are sequentially read in the order of (0, 0)→(1, 0)→(2, 0)→ . . . →(89, 0)→(90, 0)→(0, 1)→(1, 1)→ . . . →(2, 3)→(3, 3)→ . . . and so on from a memory, are transferred to an image output interface, and are converted into raster images by a rater-image processing section. Subsequently, the raster images are converted by a printer image-processing unit into YMCK images, which are then transmitted to a printer.
With respect to a unit ID indicating a transfer destination, unit ID “0” indicating an image output interface is attached to every data packet for transmission to an image ring.
However, when the controller for a multifunction machine in the above conventional example is connected to a printer engine that has a plurality of image forming sections and a plurality of photoreceptors for respective colors and that prints each page using the photoreceptors simultaneously at a high speed, time delay occurs after, for example, an RGB image is converted into a YMCK image, because timing of outputting image data in synchronization with the timing of a sheet of paper passing by photosensitive drums, arranged in parallel, varies for each color. Thus, the printer image-processing unit needs to include an inter-drum delay memory for storing data for the time delay. As a result, there is difficulty in providing a machine that incorporates a printer engine having a plurality of image forming sections at low cost.